Saturday, July 28, 2012

I'm giving everyone an early warning that we are aerifing greens on Wednesday, September 5th. We will be deep tining this year and hired a company that will enable us to do the entire process in 1 day. By doing this in early September, the holes should fill in quickly. When we do this in house, it takes us 2 weeks and ties up our crew during the process. Our aerifier is from 1993 and showing it's age. We still do tees and small fairways with it after the greens are finished.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

After a reported 63 MPH wind gust on Wednesday with .55 inches of rain, we had a clean up day at Lansing. The course is very playable, but we are still waiting for power in the clubhouse. Scott got a report of a Thursday return of power. Check your e-mail for updates of a clubhouse reopening. If anyone has an extra generator, e-mail Scott or call his cell to see if we could use it.

On Thursday, if we don't get power, we may have to manually turn on sprinklers if needed. The soil moisture seems to be good, so we may get away with hand watering.

Friday, July 20, 2012

This is Juan our newest member to the staff. His main duties are green mowing, bunkers and the occasional odd job. After the 2 inch rain, Juan used a squeegee to get water off many of our fairways.

Finally some rain. We received 2 inches on Wednesday/Thursday. It is soaking in fast. I expect no restriction on carts for Saturday. I'm very happy about the rain, but equally happy about the cooler temps. It looks like low 60's tonight, but then another hot spell starts. Only 41 days until September.

This is Ricardo. He is also a first year grounds crew member. He is already mowing fairways, greens and rough.

Friday, July 13, 2012

This is the pump station. 9 million gallons have come through so far this year. In 2011, we pumped 6 million gallons. We still have to finish July, August, September, October, and part of November. The front pump is 25HP while the back pump is 75HP. Together, they can pump 650 gallons per minute.

Lansing has a very large spring fed lake for its irrigation needs. The drought is putting a serious dent in the lake level. At this time of year, the level is usually about even with the end of the pallet.

I'm going to give this a "C'MON MAN". With the emerald ash borer taking out trees, we can't be reckless and run over new trees. This tree is a river birch plant last year. It was healthly and just starting to grow. We have spent time caring for our new trees with mulch and watering, not to mention the cost of the tree.

This is new ground crew member Luis. It's his first year on a golf course, but he is catching on quickly. His job duties include greens mowing, rough mowing and bunker work. He can mow 9 greens quicker than anyone on the staff.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

100.5 degrees at 5:00 pm on the 4th of July. Notice it was 91.2 degrees in my office. We don't have air conditioning.

To cool off the greens this afternoon, I hand watered some hot spots and syringed the greens to cool them down. We have to be carefull not to overwater on these hot humid days.

The wildlife didn't seem to mind the hot day.

The funny looking spots on our fairways are dollar spot. It's the number one problem for most golf course around here. We treat greens and tees, so these are usually clean. The rain from last weekend gave enough moisture for it to grow.

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About Me

Golf Course Superintendent at Lansing Country Club since 2008. Previously I worked at Joe Louis Golf Course, George Dunne National Golf Course, Cress Creek Country Club, Bryn Mawr Country Club, Minnesota Valley Country Club and Interlachen Country Club.